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Seems Like Old Times is one of Neil Simon’s happiest romantic farce comedies. At first glance, everything about the film’s production seemed like a gimmick, and few really thought the idea of reuniting Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn from the comedy Foul Play would have amounted to much. Playwright Simon was in a creative slump and hadn’t had a hit comedy since the early ’70s. But veteran television director Jay Sandrich created the perfect formula for a comic hidden gem.

Chase stars as Nick Gardenia, a secluded writer who’s locked away in his California ocean-side cabin trying to pound out his next novel, when he is kidnapped by two cons who force him to hold up a bank for them. Released by his captors once they pocket the loot, Nick seeks out his ex-wife, Glenda (Hawn), to take him in since she has the world’s biggest heart for misfits and the underprivileged. Her house is staffed by an interesting array of minorities and semi-legal workers, as well as a pack of stray and rescued dogs. She just happens to be a public defender, and her present husband, played by a stuffy Charles Grodin, is district attorney Ira Parks.

Many of the film’s most effectively funny scenes include a mixture of witty Simon one-liners, Chase’s trademark clowning and Hawn’s sharp delivery. The romantic chemistry between Hawn and Chase is delightful. Sandrich’s supporting cast adds multiple levels of ethnic humor: Robert Guillaume’s D.A.’s assistant, T.K. Carter’s crafty chauffer and Yvonne Wilder’s cook, Aurora De La Hoya, add endless laughs. From the film’s hilarious courtroom scenes to one absolutely riotous dinner party for the governor with Nick serving as butler makes Seems Like Old Times one of the funniest films of the 1980s.